Number of people out of work in Plymouth remains stable

Plymouth’s jobless total remained largely unchanged from last month falling by just one to 6,514, compared to June. It follows four months of continuous reductions.

But the July figure from the Office for National Statistics is down on the 6,514 recorded for the same month last year.

The downward trend continued in neighbouring areas. In the South Hams the claimant count dropped from 723 in June to 699 last month, and in Cornwall from 8,790 to 8,658.

Unemployment across the South West fell by 18,000 to 157,000 in the quarter to June, giving a jobless rate of 5.8 per cent – the lowest in the UK.

Nationally, unemployment fell to its lowest level for a year after a big jump in the number of people in work.

The jobless total fell by 46,000 in the quarter to June to 2.56 million, an unemployment rate of eight per cent.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance last month was 1.59 million, down by 5,900 on June, said the ONS.

Most of the quarterly fall in unemployment was recorded in London, suggesting a big jobs boost from the Olympic Games.

Other figures showed that the number of part-time workers has reached a record high of 8.07 million while those working part-time because they cannot find a full-time job is 1.42 million, the highest figure since records began in 1992.

Average earnings increased by 1.6 per cent in the year to June, up by 0.1 per cent on the previous month.

The number of people in work increased by 201,000 to almost 30 million, the highest since last summer, with half of the rise coming in London.

Youth unemployment fell by 4,000 to just over a million.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: “These are positive and encouraging figures demonstrating the strength of our private sector - notwithstanding the difficult economic times it is still creating jobs, the vast majority of which are full time. Unemployment is falling and the claimant count is down.”

Comments

The numbers used here exclude individuals working for free through 'workfare' (and other so-called voluntary schemes). I am amazed this wasn't taken into account considering the Jubilee and the Olympics heavily took advantage of the workfare scheme. Such brazen deception.